Chris Long really tapped into fantasy land with his recent hypothetical but he’s not entirely ruling out part of his creative tale.
Pitching in as a guest columnist for Sports Illustrated, Long unraveled a wild path in which Tom Brady leaves the Patriots for the 49ers, while San Francisco moves on from Jimmy Garoppolo and paves the way for his return to New England.
Long, obviously, doesn’t expect his fan fiction to come to fruition but he’s leaving the window of Brady returning home slightly ajar.
“Tom sold his house, there was the wrinkle in what is essentially a one-year deal and people freak out as they do on the internet,” Long said Tuesday on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.” “I think it’s about 95 percent New England and five percent the field. But if we’re taking the field, my point was the only opportunity that I see for Tom to leave and the only thing that Tom might want to do would be go back to the Bay. He grew up in the Bay as a Niners fan in 1990 as a teenager — little joke there.”
Long continued: “If you wanna take the field, I think it’s the Niners or bust.”
Playing for your hometown team might be alluring for Brady, but one has to imagine he’d only play for a legitimate Super Bowl contender if he were to leave the Patriots. The 49ers certainly are on the rise but they still appear to be a ways away from actually competing for a Lombardi Trophy.
Long’s other point, however, probably is correct. It seems far more probable than not Brady finishes out the remainder of his career in New England.
